Watchung HillsRegional High School

Warren, New Jersey

Representatives:• Georgia Fisanick• Michelle Madigan• Mike Kutch

Plan for your audience!

Plan for your audience!

(not just your content…)

Plan for your audience!

(not just your content…)• Teachers are busy, stressed, maybe frazzled• New ideas must be presented in this context• New ideas must apply to a teachers particular

situation, they must help them solve a problem

Success #1 De-privatized PracticeWe are all parts of:

Teams (sometimes more than one)Share Student WorkShare MaterialsDiscuss content in 2-D (horizontally and vertically)

Success #2 The language of Connect-EdTeachers:

RecognizeSpeak ofAnd Use

Connect-Ed Terminology:Big IdeasInquiryMindfulness

Success #2 The language of Connect-EdTeachers:

RecognizeSpeak ofAnd Use

Connect-Ed Terminology:Big IdeasInquiryMindfulness

It’s okay for teachers to be at different levels of fluency – We are a learning community!

Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science

education texts

Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science

education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to

facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities

Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science

education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to

facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities

Developed inquiry-based chem and biology labs & associated rubrics

Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science

education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to

facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities

Developed inquiry-based chem and biology labs & associated rubrics

In the process of developing ecology/marine bio concept inventories (to be completed this summer)

Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science

education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to

facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities

Developed inquiry-based chem and biology labs & associated rubrics

In the process of developing ecology/marine bio concept inventories (to be completed this summer)

In the process of realigning the chem curriculum to new course levels (to be completed this summer)

If we could do it again…Establish norms… really do it!Norms are to PLCs what classroom rules and procedures are to Classroom Management

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Obstacles Time management:

we got pulled away to deal with departmental crises: Chemical storage and safety clean-up. 

Finding common prep time the contractual issues regarding using guaranteed

prep time for professional development Navigating the business end of dealing with

grant paperwork.

What WorkedA willingness to be flexible

Changing in midstream when an approach stalled out

A tolerance of ambiguityRecognition that this was a learning process

for everyone involvedThere were no right and wrong answers, just

more effective and less effectivePLC’s developed collaborative professional

individual development plans

What Didn’t WorkLack of buy-in of UbD before district

implementationMany competing initiatives

New mandated teacher websites updated weekly

New parent access to grade bookNew format for lesson plans on Atlas Rubicon

curriculum maps

ImprintThe Science department now speaks the

language of CONNECT-EdWe all teach in terms of Big Idea ThinkingConnections across units are being emphasized

in curriculaWe are beginning work on going across

discipline boundariesWe have begun examining student work in the

department mini PLCs

Imprint• School-wide initiatives

BILD trainers are moving into school wide training melding CONNECT-Ed and UbD content

CONNECT-Ed trained teachers participate in the Professional Development Committee Curriculum Committee

Professional development school wide is organized around PLCs and in the coming year most will focus on examination of student work Exemplary rating from County

ImpactsOn development of essential questions On redesign of labs into a more inquiry-based

formatOn deprivatization of practice

What is “good” student work?On more sharing of educational strategies

within the departmentLaboratory notebooks/interactive notebooksAlternate project-based finalProblem-based course assessments

Envisioning the FutureCurriculum RealignmentNational StandardsLab NotebooksCommon Language

Curriculum RealignmentCurren

t Course

s

CP K J H

Current Description

Math Light College Prep

Course

College Prep Course

Accelerated Course

College Level TextNew

Courses

College Prep Accelerated Honors

New Description

Basic Grade Level Math Incorporation

Accelerated course College Level Text